Crash of a Star
by Roseate Terror
Summary: On the brink of her demise after a battle brought on by obfuscated emotions, Sakura is thrust into another world by a quirky, paper-loving death god who calls itself Bea. Character death.
1. Out of Area

**Crash of a Star**

Chapter One: Out of Area

**Crossover**: Naruto/Death Note

**Pairing:** L/Saku (Some implied Near/Saku)

**Rated:** **M **for violence, language and other suggestive themes.

**Disclaimer: **Death Note and Naruto do not belong to me.

* * *

_Crashing like a white star_

_Crashing like a bird_

_Diving back to sickness_

_Diving back in dirt_

* * *

Death forces you to feel; everything.

And it was a tirade of emotions that bled to the surface as Sakura lay sprawled on the forest floor, raking her trembling fingers in the dirt. It was like a rush of alleviating coolness that started at the top of her head, spreading through her chest and growing warmer as it reached the tips of her toes. Saline drops fell from the sooty lashes of her eyes and ran down her face, leaving dark streaks in their wake.

It wasn't the pain from the senbon pinned in her arms that brought on these tears that she had forced herself to suppress until this moment, and it wasn't the large, gaping hole in her abdomen, courtesy of a jutsu whose wielder she'd never thought she would see again. That event and all the hurt it could bring had been rode out until the moment where she found herself in her current condition. Throat slashed and covered in bruises, her body riddled with kunai and shuriken, she lay there without making a sound as a flurry of ANBU raced through the forest. She watched their shadowed forms through the thicket of trees, blind to her presence and unable to sense her slowly fading chakra signature.

Her heart beat slowly in her chest, numb and thumping in protest as she drew in a ragged breath and closed her eyes. Faint shouting fell to her ears, coming from some distant area, but the words held no meaning to her; she could barely understand them, anyway.

She had already heard what she had unknowingly waited for what felt like a lifetime to hear, and after she had listened, she had come to the bitter conclusion that she no longer cared.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha had finally made his return to Konoha.

He was accommodated by the entirety of the rookie nine with Naruto at the lead, as he stumbled through the village gates with his chakra nearly spent and few superficial wounds. Five years had gone by without a hitch since word had gotten around that he'd succeeded with his revenge, only to seemingly drop off the face of the earth sometime afterward. He could have come back at any time, seeing as his life's goal had finally been fulfilled; the clamor of his betrayals had died down, and the council was even willing to make a compromise in regards to his offenses against the village, to boot.

Sasuke, as broadly informed as one S-class rogue nin had to be about the ongoings in the shonobi world, had to have known all of these things. And that is why, as she stood away from the cluster of nin that had swarmed around him as if he were some tragic hero, she wondered why he had chosen _today_.

Naruto had stood at the front among his fellow peers, pelting the Uchiha with more questions than he could answer. At one point, Sasuke's dark eyes had eventually roved away from the crowd and found hers.

They stared at each other; Sasuke's obsidian orbs unusually calm and tired, and appearing to be searching through her for something, but for what, she did not know. The look that he continued to give her was so pitiful and weak, that it caused a strange, inexplicable sense of irritation to begin roiling within her. Her jaw locked and her shoulders tensed as she clenched her fists at her sides. Seeing the change in the kunoichi 's once stoic disposition, the raven haired man appeared to grow impossibly more wary, and he took a small step back despite the large group of people placed between them. Her jade eyes widened in momentary disbelief and then narrowed acutely as Naruto regained his attention in that instant. He looked down at the blonde who was only about a half a head shorter now, and placed a hand on his spike-ridden head, frowning and muttering the word 'dobe', while his voice was lost among the others.

Sakura shuddered with abounding frustration, and turned on her heel to stalk off towards the village.

What the hell was that look he had given her? The way in which he had reacted when their eyes had met just moments ago? The person she had seen just then had definitely not been Sasuke Uchiha.

The fact that he had just waltzed into the village—the home that he'd abandoned—as if he had only been gone on a very long mission was a wonder of its own. And the way everyone else had reacted...

...What was going on here?

Sakura's footsteps gradually turned into deliberate stomps as she made her way through the village streets. She hadn't thrown a fit or encountered anything that had inspired this much rage in over six years, but she felt compelled to let it flow free and consume her, unrestrained.

_**That's a pretty bad idea..**._Her Inner self warned. The roseate haired girl laughed bitterly to herself; it was almost as if she and her other persona had switched places for a time, as Inner would often be the one to fan the flames on her quieted anger, drawing it out through treacherous and inconsistent slips in her dominant personality.

Ignoring Inner Sakura's foreboding words, the pinkette continued around the corner to disappear from the public eye, leaving a small trail of web-like fissures in her wake.

* * *

The forest near the back entrance of Konoha appeared to be her destination. Without so much as a moment's hesitation, she disarmed the seals and scaled the tall fence. She jumped over the edge and landed safely on the other side, crouching down as she touched the ground, and then rising cautiously to full height.

**_I really don't advise this! Sakura!_** Inner warned once more. Sakura closed her eyes tighter than necessary and concentrated on almost completely masking her chakra signature. She knew there were guards posted at every exit in the village, and ANBU would be on her before she could take another step if they sensed her wandering around outside of it.

_Shiki is stationed at the east post..._She pondered, worrying her bottom lip as she began to mull over her options. She had chosen the south post for a reason, knowing that the north one was clearly occupied, and not wanting to risk encountering someone at the west gate. No one would be here and she was certain of this, because the person who normally guarded this section was currently standing among the crowd she had abandoned; an arm draped around the shoulders of his sweetheart, and a senbon dangling lazily from his mouth.

**_Clever thinking, but where the hell are we going? _**Inner wanted to know. The crisp leaves of late fall crunched beneath her feet as Sakura dipped her head and began journeying through the dense forestry, only pausing now and then to untangle herself from a gnarled branches catching in her pink threads.

If she was honest with herself, she didn't know where she was going; only that she needed to keep moving forward.

A few steps further found the medic nin out of the cluster of leafless oaks and standing, exposed to warm sunlight. She stared up at the late afternoon sky, watching the puffy white clouds roll lazily by. A small brook divided the area and another arrangement of trees, flowing quietly over a bed of rocks at the bottom of the estuary. Finally alone and feeling somewhat sedated by the scenery, Sakura settled herself down in the grass, slowly inhaling the scent of the sun-baked earth and reveling in the natural silence that worked to gradually to dissolve the remains of her indignant thoughts.

But the serenity was not meant to last.

A shadow fell over her closed lids as Sakura rolled onto her back, coral tresses fanned out against a rare patch of green grass. Thinking it to be a cloud passing over the sun, she placed a hand over her eyes and let out a quiet sigh.

...That was when she felt the hand on her neck.

Startled, the kunoichi's eyes fluttered open only to meet twin orbs of darkness, and she sat up quickly. Her head pulsed as heat enflamed her face when she met again with the pair of unusually calm eyes that matched a familiar face. Her heart slammed up into her chest as his hands clamped down on her shoulders with a firm, almost threatening grip.

Sasuke continued to stare at her until she realized he was waiting for her to say something.

Rediscovered irritation simmered within her, and Sakura quickly pulled away and brought herself to her stand. He didn't move as if he intended to go after her, as she had the odd feeling he would. The Uchiha's eyes lifted and blinked, as if noticing she had moved only just now.

He continued to stare at her passively, dark eyes glinting as the sunlight swept over the small clearing. Sakura steeled her own eyes, glaring at him as she waited for the feigned look of wonder to melt from his handsome features and the brooding expression or pretentious smirk to which she had once grown accustomed to reappear.

Silence hung suspended in the air...

When her expectations were not met, the kunoichi slowly dropped her guard. Why had he come looking for her? She had not expected him to come seeking her out like this.

Eight or so years ago, he had wanted nothing to do with her. It had taken her a ridiculous amount of time to come to terms with this, and after coming to accept it, all of her obstructions had fallen away and she was finally able to move on.

No longer harboring any unrequited feelings or depriving herself of the things she could have, Sakura had rebuilt a new, unbreakable foundation for herself. Her bond with her reformed team had become stronger, and she was able to fully enjoy the time that she spent with her family and friends without the burden of constant worry.

Obsession dwindled from concern to wonder, and eventually, it was lost in time.

_...How dare he come back _now? Sakura thought indignantly, her fists tightening again at her sides. How dare he come back and put the everything she had created into jeopardy?

"...No." She said firmly, more to herself. She couldn't allow this to happen. Sasuke seemed to almost wince under the magnitude of her voice as he looked up at her with a bewildered expression.

Foreign animosity flared up within the pink haired kunoichi like an unconquerable wildfire and coursed through her body, flooding her veins with cold adrenaline.

Sasuke's eyes widened a small fraction as he stared her trembling form. She was upset with his abrupt return, he had already gathered, but that was now probably an understatement.

"Sakura." He said experimentally, trying to keep the tone of his voice in check. She glared down at him, her mouth steeled into a hard and unforgiving line, and her jade eyes alight with anger.

"Listen to me. I..." Sasuke's mouth went dry and he suddenly found himself unable to speak.

Damn it... He had prepared himself for this. He had prepared himself to admit to her that he had made his mistakes, and that he was ready to face any consequences now. His team, his home and everything that was important to him were right here in this village, and he had waited five long years to summon the courage and swallow his undying pride to return to face his final judgement. He didn't want her affection or forgiveness, and he certainly wasn't expecting it.

A sense of closure was what she deserved; to be free from the grief and worry he knew that his absence had tormented her with. Naruto had accepted his return a little easier than he'd been anticipating, but he knew that dealing with Sakura would be a more sensitive case.

What was left of his Uchiha pride had practically dwindled to nothing when he saw her face behind the crowd today. Her anger then resonated within him, and now as he forced himself to look at her face and the accumulated anger behind her eyes, he began to wonder if an earlier return could have lessened such animosity...

"Sakura, look..."

Those were the last words he was able to say before he found himself lying on his back, pinned to the ground with a kunai aimed at his throat.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later found the two shinobi of Konoha beneath the shadows of a clearing, panting, bleeding and running on chakra vapors. Small craters riddled the abused expanse of earth, trees slain from their roots and strewn across the remnants of a once docile little forest; murdered in constitution to the unrestrained wrath of one Uchiha Sasuke and a pink haired kunoichi.

Sakura pressed her back against a canted tree and heaved a sigh. The cicadas in the branches hummed in unison, and then their discant broke apart at the sound of hurried footfalls. Her clouded viridian green orbs flitted to the Uchiha lying face down on the ground near her feet, his disheveled raven hair caked with dirt, blood and littered with specks of dead leaves. A pool of carmine spanned our from under his unmoving body, staining the ground and darkening the parched tufts of weathered earth.

Eliciting a huff and pressing her hand against the gaping wound in her stomach, she toed him in the side and only stared on dispassionately when Sasuke did not move.

He was dead.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Distortion

**Crash of a Star  
**

Chapter Two: Distortion**  
**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note or Naruto

* * *

An other-worldly being, deeply intrigued by the events that it had just witnessed, emerged the shadows and slowly ghosted over to the mangled body of a girl lying on the ground. Frantic voices shouting demands miles away from their location traveled faintly back to its keen, pointed ears. Despite the distance, it had gathered enough intelligence to know that they were currently looking for the two humans it had happened upon. While the boy was clearly dead, numbers striking to all zeros the moment his body hit the ground, the girl was still hanging on to a thread of her life; breathing heavily and writhing around as though being shook by some invisible force.

It watched the digits tick down like numbers on a digital clock above her head; twenty seconds left.

The other humans would never find her in time.

The entire bout had all but confused the platinum-clad creature, even more so as it now watched the tears stream from her eyes. Was the pain of her injuries simply that unbearable, or was she grieving over the life of her companion which she had just taken? It couldn't seem to analyze the girl's actions at all. Shock had conquered its normally stoic features as it watched the pinkette brutally slay the repenting boy, and then take off before a fleet of masked humans could catch up and retrieve her. She had fallen somewhere a few miles away, unable to move any longer and bleeding profusely from the hole punched into her chest. According to what it had seen, it had taken a lot on the girl's side to provoke the boy into a mutual fight, but towards the end, he was only able to endure so much of her torment and affliction before he acknowledged the ability to defend himself.

Their battle was amazing; a no holds barred brawl. They moved in perfect unison, meeting each other blow for blow and working to counteract the others' movements. Just when it seemed as though the kunoichi would lose, suffering from blood loss and sluggish movement due to multiple projectiles having embedded themselves into her body, she had delivered to her opponent a final, breath plundering blow. It sent him clear across the forest with such an incredible force that he tumbled like a dead weight over the ground several times, neck snapping crudely in the process before he slid to an unceremonious heap, never to move again.**  
**

It was both frightening and awe-inspiring, but it wasn't what made the shinigami so rapt with curiosity. The girl had come out victorious, but triumph never marred her dirtied features. Instead, she had stared down her opponent with an impassive expression shortly before leaving, even nudging him in the side as if to confirm the demise that she had done everything in her power to make sure of. This person had murdered a defenseless other in cold blood, even seeming to revel in their quarrel and the abuse which she had inflicted upon him, and yet her current disposition was now that of nothing but grief and repentance.

_So curious..._

_Humans really are such peculiar creatures..._Bea mused, his pupilless cardinal eyes narrowing as he dropped lightly to the ground on his feet and knelt down to inspect Sakura's still trembling form. Her skin had turned ashen, and a sheen of sweat had broken out as her breaths transcended from heavy and desperate to shallow pants. Her chest heaved dangerously, pulling the weapons protruding from her wounds deeper into her flesh. Her eyes were barely open, and Bea briefly entertained the idea of her being able to see him...

It was then that the girl lifted a trembling hand and brought her fingers to sweep the underside of the shinigami's chin. Carmine orbs wide with disbelief, he watched the ironic curve take form on her lips and attuned his ears to her subtle whisper.

"So...I'm already in hell."

Bea blinked down at her, transfixed for a moment by the words that had come from her mouth, and then his lips pulled back into a smirk to reveal a twin set of sharply filed teeth.

"No, but would you like to pay a visit?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, but it appears as though..."

Naruto Uzumaki was absolutely livid; his body was shaking. _No_, he decided, sick of the excuses; sick of just _sitting_ here and doing nothing. Waiting a minute longer was out of the question; he just couldn't, anymore.

Not after learning that his best friend was dead.

Fighting back tears of confusion and frustration, the blonde raked his trembling fingers through his unruly hair and dropped his face in his hands. Tsunade sat across from him at her desk, her hands folded under her chin and staring at the blonde with mutual vexation clouding her amber eyes.

This was only the first blow, but she couldn't bring herself to deliver him two in the same hour. About forty-five minutes ago, the ANBU cell that she had dispatched to investigate the commotion outside the village had returned to deliver Sasuke Uchiha's body to the coroners. She had gone down to investigate after the body was identified, and the cause of death was then confirmed; a hole punched right through the abdomen, twice, but no larger than the size of a fist. Her head began to swim with fear, sadness and disappointment, and then only fear after she was suddenly informed that her apprentice-no, her beloved little surrogate daughter could not be found.

"Sakura...Has anyone told Sakura?" Naruto mumbled quietly, his eyes lowering to the floor. He couldn't even begin to imagine his pink haired team mate's reaction after learning of the Uchiha's death.

Tears welled in the godaime's eyes then, and a stray one that rolled down her cheek did not go unnoticed by Naruto. Blue eyes cut to his former sensei, who was leaning against the wall at the opposite side of the room near the door, orange book in hand as something suddenly seemed to register within him.

The orange clad nin hurriedly turned back to Tsunade, his eyes wide with shock. Slowly, he stood, knocking the chair over as he stumbled back; he suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"Baa-chan!" Naruto cried, effectively pulling the hokage out of her contemplative trance. The woman's hands dropped to her desk, and her mouth formed into a grim line as she struggled to force out the words she knew she had to say. Finally, she lowered her head, pale blonde hair veiling her expression as her lips slowly began to move.

"Sakura is...she's gone."

* * *

Sakura stared up at the pale man that was smirking toothily down at her.

Toothily; with sharp fangs jutting from his mouth.

**_That's not a man!_** Inner Sakura screamed in horror, emerging from her dormant state to express her mutual panic. Alarm bells went off in Sakura's head as the..._creature_ leaned down and began to remove the senbon from her arms, and then the shuriken and kunai buried to the hilt in other sections of her body. Its back was turned to her as it began to examine the large hole in her abdomen, running taloned fingers over her exposed flesh after ripping the fabric of her shirt open with its bare hands.

Its wild shock of platinum hair stuck out in inconsistent spikes at the back of its head, while the rest seemed to hang near the side of its face; draping shoulder length close to its long, slender neck. Once or twice, it looked over its shoulder with pale red eyes, gauging her reaction after prodding her a few times as if to see what hurt and where. The kunoichi, for the most part, would stare back at it dispassionately through half lidded eyes, her body occasionally jolting to the pain of her injuries.

Finally, Bea dropped the last soiled weapon into the pile with the others and sat back to look at Sakura.

Haruno Sakura. _Sakura_; how befitting was that.

He'd managed to buy the girl an extra few minutes or so by removing the crude metal lodged purposely into all of her vital spots, and now that she was lucid, she was staring up at him crossly with smoldering, bottomless apple green eyes. He really liked the fire he saw there, though the expression itself confused him; he was trying to save her life, after all.

He almost had to laugh at her silent bravado. Had she encountered another shinigami, well...that was just the thing; she would have never encountered another shinigami. Furthermore, it was quite ironic that something like him had come to her aid. He was a death god, after all, and he was meant to be taking lives, not saving them.

Wandering around in another world out of boredom was something Bea was scolded for on a daily basis. Being inactive and roaming around the plains of oblivion doing nothing grew pretty damn boring, and most of the others couldn't care enough to blame him.

The quirky shinigami took pleasure in small, but effective and mischievous shenanigans; those in which his peers found lesser amusement. Now and then he would travel to one insignificant area, playing said pranks and when he grew bored, he would swiftly move on to the next.

Most often, he would be questioned about the death note which he carried on his person at all times, but Bea, as thorough and methodical as he was with his doings, would promptly answer that the universe in its current state was in no need of anymore supernatural catastrophes; it was already bringing enough affliction upon itself, and with one incredibly delusional sap to blame, at that.

Ryuk really did have all the fun.

For what it was worth, Bea could usually do well enough to keep himself out of trouble, and would eventually return 'home' looking and feeling just as bored as he had been when he'd left. But looking down at this pink haired girl, the moment he had floated out of the shadows and into her apparent view, he'd known that he had gotten himself into quite the dangerous predicament. Hobbies and personal interests aside, he knew that he would be in deep shit if anyone ever found out about this.

Oh, well; he supposed he could deal with it later.

Sakura's glare dissolved into a frown as the shinigami continued to study her. This thing was some kind of monster, but only in the sense that its features were distorted; pointed ears, a strange eye color, and...well, besides the odd piercings adorning the different sections of its face, and the frighteningly sharp set of teeth, it could have almost passed for a human.

Almost.

She wasn't going to humor herself again and believe that she had made it into hell, because she could still feel the pain in her body, and it was still difficult to breathe.

**_Hell, huh _**Inner mused. **_Then wouldn't this thing be a demon? _**

_A demon...?_ Was that what this thing was?

Inner gave a half shrug of sorts. **_I don't know...Let's ask!_**

The kunoichi rolled her eyes, and then nearly rolled them again when she saw the creature picking its teeth with the clean end of a senbon. Feeling the girl's eyes on him, Bea turned around, metal needle hanging from his mouth._  
_

"Eh? What 'cha starin' for?"

"What the hell are you?" Sakura deadpanned. The shinigami gave a snort of a laugh and rolled the senbon deftly between his fingers. What a snarky little wildcat she was; another admirable quality he decided he liked.

"I'm really impressed that you're able to see me, hm...If everyone else of your species is able to notice my presence in this world, we're going to have a problem."

"We're?" Sakura repeated, ignoring that he**—**it hadn't answered her question. Bea regarded the kunoichi for a moment. He had only been considering it at first, but the deed was already half done. He really hated to leave things unfinished, anyway.

Peculiar? Most certainly. But lazy? Oh, no.

"Yeah." Bea said and flicked the senbon to the ground. It stuck in the dirt as he rose to his feet. "You're coming with me."

"Not if I can help it." Sakura said, now attempting to stand. Her legs wobbled as she anchored herself to a fallen tree and tried to pull herself to full height. The shinigami stared at her in disbelief as she succeeded with a grimace. Bea smirked. Damn, she really was something else. Yes, he would have to take her. Besides, if he left her now she was definitely going to die.

"You wanna live, don't 'cha?" It wasn't a question, really, but he still expected to get an answer, anyway; that answer being _yes._

"Here." Sakura managed a stern reply, despite the slight shakiness of her voice. No way she was going to go living anywhere else with this monster. Where did he plan on taking her, anyway?

Sakura hoisted herself onto one of the rocks jutting from the ground, half unearthed in the middle of chaos and closed her eyes in concentration. She began to probe around inside of her body with the trickle of chakra she had left, checking the severity of the damage that Sasuke's chidori had done to her. With it, he had surprisingly missed any vital points in this area and managed to hit nearly all of them weapons alone. She'd been able to heal the gash in her throat, as it demanded immediate attention at the time if she wanted to keep breathing, but other than that, her medical chakra was spent.

...Not that it really mattered at this point. She had evidently killed a man, and she was all but aware of the way her village handled such crimes against its own people.

_Sasuke..._She had deliberately _killed_ Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura made a strangled crying sound and clapped a bloodstained hand over her mouth. Her throat constricted and her body flushed with the feeling of nausea at just the thought of what she had done; whose life she had taken.

What would become of her now?

Bea's eyes narrowed and a tiny smirk drew up on his lips. She was clearly thinking over the severity of her situation. She had to know that those humans were still out looking for her. If they were to discover that she had killed one of her own, would they turn on her? Kill her? Humans were unpredictable, and her situation was iff so it was hard to say...

But Sakura clearly understood the gravity of her situation, and she knew that there was no going back; alive, at least. She had done something truly awful, and the worst part was, she couldn't even begin to explain how things had resulted in the way they were now in the first place. She figured it all must have started the moment he'd returned to the village earlier that day. That brief moment where their eyes met, she had felt that anger twisting up and knotting within her...That calm, yet somber expression in those dark depths had manifested something insidious and phenomenal within her, and from there on, she was almost forcibly resigned from stopping it.

This explanation would never do in front of any council or court, though; she knew she was at fault here, no matter what deviant feelings his presence had evoked from her.

There were no excuses for murder.

Beside her, the odd creature, her apparent savior was grinning at her creepily. She stared up at it for a long minute, again trying to figure out exactly what it was. Finally, after failing to come up with anything, she asked, "What are you, exactly?"

Bea barked out a laugh. Oh yeah, she had already asked him that, hadn't she? "Well, that's easy, I'm a shinigami." He replied without blinking his large eyes.

"A death god?" Sakura leaned forward and repeated incredulously.

Said god of death nodded. "I was just on my merry way when I saw you fighting that dark haired human kid." He explained. "Then I followed you here."

Sakura went silent as she thought over his words. He had followed her here? Had he watched her kill Sasuke, then?

Bea shrugged indifferently, seeming to pick up on her train of thought. "So, what if I saw? I know you didn't mean it."

Didn't _mean_ it? Horror reflected in Sakura's eyes at the comment. Of course she had meant it! What kind of person kills and then doesn't mean to do it? She was awful; more so a true murderer than any shinobi could ever feel ashamed to be. Sasuke might have deserved a lot of things; a lot of things he certainly wasn't getting back in the village. The way he'd been welcomed him so openly should have been a miracle and a relief. Many times over the past few years she had awoke, crying and short of breath from nightmares of the last Uchiha survivor crawling home with an inch of his life only to be dragged away from his mourning team mates to his execution. She feared his return, and she longed for it too. She _should_ have been there at the front lines of the crowd beside Naruto, ready to greet him and thank the kami for his return.

Where had those foreign and murderous feelings come from? Why had this wonderful day suddenly turned into another nightmare?

Placing a hand on her wounded abdomen, Sakura realized for the first time since coming to that she was no longer...dying.

Bea chuckled, now perched on a branch in the tree above her. She tilted her head up and fixed him with a curious look, too startled by the derail of her thoughts to say anything. The pain in her stomach had ebbed to a dull sensation, but she was losing a worrying amount of blood. While Inner Sakura shrieked inside her mind at the sight of blood leaving her body so fast, her eyes flicked back up to the death god and wondered.

..._Why aren't I dead yet? _

Bea read the question in those green orbs and smirked down at the girl. "I've suspended your death temporarily. If you decide to come with me, you can have the remainder of your life in the world that I choose to place you in, and your 'dead end', shall we say, will be removed and reset to another date."

"Another date?" The kunoichi lifted a pink brow at the vague explanation. "Like what? Tomorrow? Next week? A month from now?"

Bea shrugged and broke a small branch off the tree and poked it between his jagged teeth. "Dunno. You can find out for yourself, _or_, you can stay here, and**—**" He clutched his hands over his chest and feigned tumbling out of the tree, the backs of his knees hooking under the branch he'd once been sitting on. He grinned cattily at her, twig hanging from his mouth and his white hair sweeping the grass below. "Y'know. Your choice..."

Sakura almost laughed at the creature's crude gesture. She had a choice, it said? The ANBU that were wandering around after being alerted to her and Sasuke's location during the fight had most likely already found Sasuke's body. By now, she concluded that they must have gathered people who had witnessed her angry disappearance from the center of the village earlier, and, if no one had seen Sasuke sneak through the crowd to go after her, the craters in the earth at the scene of their finale would certainly serve as some indication. After putting two and two together (it was only a matter of time), they would continue to search for her, and when they eventually found her, they most likely had orders to kill her, or worse...

_But..._Fear settled in the pit of Sakura's stomach and she swallowed thickly, her throat feeling dry. "...I can't go with you."

Bea lifted an eyebrow. Somehow, he wasn't expecting to hear that. "Oh?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm sorry...Shinigami. It's an interesting offer, but my place is here. I've committed an awful crime and it would be dishonorable to my village if I didn't face the consequences."

"Hm." Bea grunted. He hopped down from the tree and landed in mid air an inch above the ground. "How admirable of you, Sakura." He said, walk-floating past her. She didn't think to ask how he knew her name. "Well, if that's how you feel, then I'm afraid I'll have to leave." He fingered the dangling black lightning charm pinned into his left ear, and then dug around the pockets of his baggy black jeans as if he were looking for something. Sakura was strangely felt almost disappointed when he produced nothing. "Once I leave, the time of your death will speed back up with you. I'm sorry about that really." The shinigami continued with a grin that told her he didn't feel too sorry at all.

Sakura just nodded once and then watched as a swirling white portal expanded before the other. Suddenly, she called out to him. "Sakura! Um...that's my name." She explained, almost sheepishly. "Maybe we'll...meet again sometime."

Bea's shoulders tensed and then he let them fall slowly. "That's unlikely." Was all he said, stuffing one hand into his pocket and the other to fist in the back of his platinum hair. After a few seconds of debating, he made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and grumbled, "Tch. Bea."

He knew he never should have come here. He had gotten his hopes high just by discovering her, and then when he decided to speak to her, he couldn't help but feel a strange sort of appreciation for her. She was sassy, brave and also seemed to be rather intelligent. Not only that, but she was phenomenally strong and ridiculously loyal to her home. She could have escaped death easily through this unlikely chance, but instead she had chosen mortality's final judgement.

Bea sighed tersely and allowed his body to quickly melt into the portal. Sakura watched him leave and the let out a slow breath. She honestly didn't think she was going to last long if ANBU didn't hurry up and get their asses over here. Her eyes roved over the forest, counting the number of weapons lying on the ground, trying to distract herself from the returning pain that seemed to intensify with each passing second.

That's when she saw it.

It didn't catch her eye at first, as it was nestled beneath the leaves. The front cover scrawled with strange white lettering was hard to miss the second time. Crawling from her place under the tree, the kunoichi reached out and grabbed the book off the ground.

"Death...note?" She read the awkwardly written words aloud. _What the hell is this? _She stared up at the silvery portal, which was slowly beginning to close. Had Bea dropped this book? She recalled him rummaging around in his pockets... _**Well,**_ Inner chimed in a little obviously, _**where **_**else**_** could it have come from?**_**  
**

Sakura gripped the strange little black book in her hands and called out, "Bea!"

Then she waited. No answer.

Her eyes traveled back to the silvery abyss, and she looked around before stumbling to her feet and taking a cautious step forward. She could just toss it in, right?

Her other persona gave a dry, dark chuckle, which she chose to ignore for the sake of her shaking nerves. **_Something tells me it isn't going to be that easy._ **

Timidly, the roseate haired nin lifted the book in both hands towards the portal, as if offering it some sort of sacrifice with the hope of it not swallowing her along with it. The portal gave a small, tentative tug, to which she automatically let go and then watched it begin to close up.

Sakura let out a relieved sigh.

_Oh, good._

Wheeling herself around, she began making her way back when felt a rough hand place itself on her shoulder and _pull_. Her mouth didn't even have a chance to fall open for a surprised scream. The next thing she knew, she was flying_ backward, _her arms and legs flailing before her as the world she knew began to grow smaller and smaller..._  
_

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
